1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to video game apparatuses, methods of obtaining data, and recording media, and more particularly to a video game apparatus that transmits and receives data through a server on a network, a method of obtaining data for such a video game apparatus, and a recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute such a method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In video game apparatuses, in the case of changing, with the progress of the story of a game, types of game characters appearing on the scene, directions in which a main character moves, or the belongings of the main character, the parameters of each character are selected at random by using numeric data so that the story of the game may be different each time.
In such a case of selecting parameters in a video game, for instance, the numeric data is obtained from TOC (table of contents) information recorded on a barcode or a CD-ROM, and the parameters of the characters are created by using the numeric data. Thereby, the natures and types of the characters (that is, appearing characters including monsters), game scenes, or the items of the main character are changed based on the parameters, so that a game player can enjoy a different story each time.
According to the above-described method of obtaining the numeric data from the TOC information recorded on the barcode or the CD-ROM, however, only the same data can be obtained if the same barcode or CD-ROM is used, and therefore, it is difficult to change the parameters at random.
Further, in the case of obtaining the numeric data from the TOC information recorded on the CD-ROM, it is necessary to change CD-ROMs every time the numeric data is obtained, thus resulting in a complicated operation.
In the case of obtaining the numeric data by reading the barcode, it is necessary to prepare different barcodes. However, this has caused problems because some people cut off barcodes from products on store shelves and others purchase products only for barcodes and discard the products themselves.